Brian Thomas Abraham, Jennifer Apple & More to Star in THE BAND'S VISIT at The Huntington Theatre

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The Huntington and SpeakEasy Stage has revealed the cast and creative team of their upcoming production of the Tony Award-winning musical The Band's Visit, featuring music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Itamar Moses, and directed by award-winning SpeakEasy Founder and SpeakEasy Stage Founder and Artistic Director Paul Daigneault. The production runs from Friday, November 10 – Sunday, December 10, 2023 at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Ave).

The Band's Visit centers on an Egyptian band of musicians who become stranded in a small Israeli town after a transportation mix-up. With no lodgings available, the locals take them into their homes for the night. By morning, surprising connections have been made and friendships forged over moments of shared humanity and love of music. In this beautiful, feel-good musical, a brief visit can have a lasting impact.

Based on Eran Kolirin's 2007 film of the same name, this original musical first premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company Off Broadway in 2016 before transferring to Broadway in 2017. The tour was scheduled to perform in Boston in 2020, but was cancelled due to the pandemic.

“This gorgeous musical won 10 Tony Awards, and it now will delight Boston audiences for the first time,” says Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. “We're thrilled to wholeheartedly collaborate with our partners at SpeakEasy Stage, and it's a privilege to welcome their founder, our friend and colleague Paul Daigneault, in his Huntington debut.”

“We at SpeakEasy are thrilled to team up with our good friends at The Huntington to bring this sublime, beautiful musical to life,” says SpeakEasy Artistic Director Paul Daigneault. “It is also an incredible honor to be the first to direct a musical on the new Huntington Theatre stage, to invite the city's amazing talent on this artistic journey, and to share the many wonders of this surprising and joyous show.”  

This co-production marks the first time that SpeakEasy Stage and The Huntington have jointly staged a production, though the two companies have been longtime partners and collaborators, and worked together with Company One Theatre to produce a festival of Annie Baker's Shirley, VT plays in 2010. They also work together closely on a regular basis as The Huntington built and manages the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA, where SpeakEasy Stage is the Calderwood Pavilion Resident Theatre Company at the Boston Center for the Arts. This co-production of The Band's Visit allows both companies to expand their partnership and reach new audiences for this highly acclaimed musical.

Winning an astounding 10 Tony Awards in 2018 – among the highest in Broadway history – as well as the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album in 2019, The Band's Visit was hailed by The New York Times as “One of the most ravishing musicals you will ever be seduced by,” and The Hollywood Reporter called it “Gorgeous, intoxicating, and soulful.”

The Band's Visit is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. mtishows.com

The cast of The Band's Visit includes:

Brian Thomas Abraham as Tewfiq, the reserved conductor of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra and a widower. Credits include Life of Pi and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 and 2 on Broadway.

Jennifer Apple as Dina, world-weary café owner. Credits include the Broadway tour of The Band's Visit and Detroit '67 at Chautauqua Theater Company.

Marianna Bassham as Iris, Itzik's frustrated wife. Credits include Sweat and Common Ground Revisited at The Huntington, and POTUS and People, Places, and Things at SpeakEasy Stage.

Fady Demian as Zelger, Papi's friend. Also understudying Simon and Camal. Credits include Prayer for the French Republic at The Huntington and Wild Goose Dreams at SpeakEasy Stage.

Kareem Elsamadicy as Haled, handsome trumpet player and Chet Baker fan. Credits include Find the Golden Bird Off Broadway and The Light in the Piazza at Ars Nova.

Josephine Moshiri Elwood as Julia, Papi's date. Credits include Prayer for the French Republic at The Huntington and English at SpeakEasy Stage.

Jesse Garlick as Papi, a young café employee, nervous around women. Credits include Good Off Broadway and A Christmas Carol at Central Square Theater.

Noah Kieserman as Telephone Guy, a young man waiting for his girlfriend to call him on a payphone. Credits include the Broadway tour of Dear Evan Hansen and Space Dogs Off Broadway.

Andrew Mayer as Camal, a wary violinist. Credits include Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 on Broadway and I Spy a Spy Off Broadway.

Zaven Ovian as Sammy, a married man with a close relationship to Dina. Credits include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Romeo and Juliet at The Huntington, and English and Shakespeare in Love at SpeakEasy Stage.

Emily Qualmann as Anna, Zelger's date. Also understudying Iris. Credits include the Broadway tour of Escape to Margaritaville and Fiddler on the Roof, and The Office! A Musical Parody Off Broadway.

James Rana as Simon, the assistant conductor of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra and a clarinetist. Credits include the original Broadway cast of The Band's Visit and The Government Inspector at Red Bull Theatre.

Robert Saoud as Avrum, Iris' father and a former musician. Also understudying Tewfiq. Credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream and Merrily We Roll Along at The Huntington, and The Drowsy Chaperone at SpeakEasy Stage.

Jared Troilo as Itzik, an aimless married man and loving father. Credits include Prayer for the French Republic at The Huntington and The Prom at SpeakEasy Stage.

Understudies include: Sarah Corey, Jordana Kagan, Elliot Lazar, Steven Goldstein, Alex Poletti, Emily Qualmann, and Robert Saoud.

The orchestra of The Band's Visit includes:

José Delgado, Music Director, Conductor, and on Keys 1.

Dan Rodriguez, Associate Conductor and on Keys 2.

Joe LaRocca on Reeds (on stage).

Fabio Pirozzolo on Percussion (on stage).

Mac Ritchey on Guitar (on stage).

Mike Rivard on Bass.

Wick Simmons on Cello (on stage).

Herdi Xha on Drums and Arabic Percussion.

The musician contractor is Rick Hammett.

The creative team for The Band's Visit includes scenic design by Wilson Chin (Clyde's and Teenage Dick at The Huntington) and Jimmy Stubbs (Richard II/Henry IV at Theatre for a New Audience), costume design by Miranda Kau Giurleo (The Prom and The Scottsboro Boys at SpeakEasy Stage), lighting design by Aja M. Jackson (The Art of Burning at The Huntington and Fairview at SpeakEasy Stage), and sound design by Josh Millican (A Little Night Music at The Huntington). The choreographer is Daniel Pelzig, voice coach is Lee Nishri-Howitt, and rehearsal pianist is John-William Gambrell. The dramaturg is Vahdat Yeganeh. The assistant director is Dori A. Robinson and assistant to the director is Huan Bui. The production stage manager is Emily F. McMullen and the stage manager is Lucas Bryce Dixon.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

David Yazbek (Music & Lyrics) is an American writer, musician, composer, lyricist and recording artist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010), The Band's Visit (2017), and Tootsie (2019). His album The Laughing Man won the 1997 N.A.I.R.D. Award for Best Pop Album. Other albums include TOCK and Damascus! For theatre he has also composed original music for Boy's Life at LCT; Mojo, Atlantic Theatre; The Pope's Nose, Promenade Theatre and over two others. He has done a lot of scriptwriting for TV, including a brief, Emmy Award-winning stint with “Late Night with David Letterman” and the co-creation of the groundbreaking yet cloying “Puzzle Place” for PBS. He's composed scores for a wide range of films and shows for HBO, NBC, Fox, and Nickelodeon and is responsible for the unrelenting theme song to “Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?” He has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning in 2019 for the original cast recording of The Band's Visit. As a songwriter and/or producer he has worked with such artists as XTC, Tito Puente, Spacehog, The Verve Pipe, Ruben Blades, Rockapella, and the Persuasions. More can be learned at davidyazbek.com

Itamar Moses (Book) is the author of the full-length plays Outrage, Bach at Leipzig, Celebrity Row, The Four of Us, Yellowjackets, Back Back Back, Completeness, and The Whistleblower, the musicals Nobody Loves You (with Gaby Alter), Fortress of Solitude (with Michael Friedman), and The Band's Visit (with David Yazbek), and the evening of short plays Love/Stories (Or But You Will Get Used to It). His work has appeared Off Broadway and elsewhere in New York, at regional theatres across the country, and in Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, Venezuela, Turkey, and Chile, and is published by Faber & Faber and Samuel French. Awards for his work include Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, and Obie Awards in New York, as well as awards from the Portland, San Diego, Dallas, and Bay Area Theatre Critics Circles. He's received new play commissions from The McCarter, Playwrights Horizons, Berkeley Rep, The Wilma Theater, South Coast Rep, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, and The Goodman. On television, Itamar has written for TNT's “Men of a Certain Age,” HBO's “Boardwalk Empire,” WGN'S “Outsiders,” and Showtime's “The Affair.” He holds an MFA in dramatic writing from NYU and has taught playwriting at Yale and NYU. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and is a New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. Born in Berkeley, CA, he now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Paul Daigneault (Director/SpeakEasy Stage Founder & Artistic Director) is a New England-based freelance director, producer, and teacher. Since founding the award-winning SpeakEasy Stage in 1992, he has produced over 150 Boston premieres. As a director, he is especially proud of his projects that have centered gay and queer stories as well as his passion for contemporary American musicals. His professional directing highlights include The Prom; The Inheritance; Fun Home; Admissions; The Scottsboro Boys; Significant Other; Violet; Mother & Sons; Big Fish; In the Heights; Next to Normal; Nine; Some Men; Zanna, Don't!; Parade; Caroline, or Change; Take Me Out; Company; A Man of No Importance; Bat Boy - The Musical; Passion; A New Brain; Floyd Collins; Love! Valour! Compassion!; and Jeffrey. In 2014, Paul was the recipient of the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, the highest honor presented by the Boston Theater Critics Association. Paul is currently on the faculty at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he teaches musical theatre, producing, and directing. He was honored in 2007 with the Boston College Arts Council's Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement, and served as the college's 2011-2012 Rev. J. Donald Monan S. J. Professor in Theatre Arts. Outside the theatre, Paul has served on the Board of the ICU Patient & Family Advisory Council at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is a lover of National Parks and plans to visit all 63!  

INFORMATION ABOUT THE BAND'S VISIT

WHEN

In-person performances: November 10 – December 10, 2023

Select Evenings: Tues – Thurs at 7:30pm; Fri – Sat at 8pm; select Sun at 7pm

Matinees: Select Wed at 3pm; select Sat and Sun at 2:30pm

Days and times vary; see complete schedule above.

Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission

Press Opening: Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 7pm (RSVP here)

WHERE

The Huntington Theatre

264 Huntington Ave, Boston

TICKETS

Tickets to in-person performances start at $30. Season ticket packages and FlexPasses are also now on sale:

online at huntingtontheatre.org
by phone at 617-266-0800;
or in person at the Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston
 

Select discounts apply:

$10 off: season ticket holders
$40 “HYPE” tickets for patrons 40 years old and younger (valid ID required)
$20 student and military tickets (valid ID required)
 

The Huntington asks that any patron experiencing COVID symptoms stay home and contact ticketing services for more information about exchanges.

ACCESS PERFORMANCES FOR THE BAND'S VISIT

Tickets are $20 for each patron and their guests. To reserve tickets please email access@huntingtontheatre.org, call ticketing services at 617-266-0800, or visit the box office in person at the Huntington Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston. Accessible performances are supported in part by the Liberty Mutual Foundation.

OPEN CAPTIONED PERFORMANCE: Tuesday, November 21 at 7:30pm. The Huntington offers open captioning at designated performances for any patron who benefits from having the text of spoken dialogue visible in time with the play.

ASL-INTERPRETED PERFORMANCE: Friday, December 1 at 8pm. The Huntington offers American Sign Language interpretation at designated performances for patrons who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

AUDIO-DESCRIBED PERFORMANCE: Saturday, December 9 at 2:30pm. The Huntington offers audio description at designated performances for patrons who are blind or low-vision. Please visit huntingtontheatre.org/visit/accessibility for information.

Large Print and Braille Programs will also be available for patrons at performances.

THE BAND'S VISIT SPECIAL EVENTS

“Stage & Screen” The Band's Visit at Coolidge Corner: Monday, November 13

The Huntington and Coolidge Corner continue their “Stage & Screen” collaboration with an event on Monday, October 13 at Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA. After a

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